Melt processable poly (vinyl alcohol) blends and poly (vinyl alcohol) based membranes

ABSTRACT

Technologies and implementations for providing melt processable poly(vinyl alcohol) blends and poly(vinyl alcohol) based membranes are generally disclosed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Application is the National Stage filing under 35 U.S.C. §371 ofPCT Application Ser. No. PCT/US2010/060879 filed on Dec. 16, 2010. Thedisclosure of the PCT Application is hereby incorporated by reference inits entirety.

BACKGROUND

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in thissection are not prior art to the claims in this application and are notadmitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

Membranes based on poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH) may have many desirablecharacteristics, including excellent water permeation, and may haveseveral useful applications. However, PVOH polymers may degrade understandard processing conditions and may have overall poor melt processingcharacteristics, which may make membranes based on PVOH difficult toproduce.

SUMMARY

In accordance with some implementations, melt-processable polymer blendsmay include a polymer including poly(vinyl alcohol), a polymer including2-glucosyloxyethyl methacrylate, and a polymer configured to providepost melt processing flexibility to the polymer blend.

In accordance with some implementations, methods for producingpurification membranes may include blending a polymer includingpoly(vinyl alcohol), a polymer including 2-glucosyloxyethyl methacrylateand a polymer configured to provide post melt processing flexibility tothe polymer blend to form a melt processable polymer blend, extrudingthe melt processable polymer blend, forming a membrane from the extrudedmelt processable polymer blend, and dissolving a portion of the polymerincluding poly(vinyl alcohol) to form the purification membrane.

In accordance with some implementations, methods for producingpurification membranes may include blending a polymer includingpoly(vinyl alcohol), a polymer including 2-glucosyloxyethyl methacrylateand a polymer configured to provide post melt processing flexibility tothe polymer blend to form a melt processable polymer blend, extrudingthe melt processable polymer blend, forming a membrane from the extrudedmelt processable polymer blend, and crosslinking a portion of thepolymer including poly(vinyl alcohol) to form the purification membrane.

The foregoing summary may be illustrative only and may not be intendedto be in any way limiting. In addition to the illustrative aspects,embodiments, and features described above, further aspects, embodiments,and features will become apparent by reference to the drawings and thefollowing detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Subject matter is particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in theconcluding portion of the specification. The foregoing and otherfeatures of the present disclosure will become more fully apparent fromthe following description and appended claims, taken in conjunction withthe accompanying drawings. Understanding that these drawings depict onlyseveral embodiments in accordance with the disclosure and are,therefore, not to be considered limiting of its scope, the disclosurewill be described with additional specificity and detail through use ofthe accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a flow chart of an example method forproducing a melt-processable polymer blend;

FIG. 2 is an illustration of an example structure of poly (vinylalcohol);

FIG. 3 is an illustration of an example structure of 2-glucosyloxyethylmethacrylate;

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a flow chart of an example method forproducing a poly (vinyl alcohol) based membrane;

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a flow chart of another example method forproducing a poly(vinyl alcohol) based membrane;

FIG. 6 is an illustration of an example system for producingmelt-processable polymer blends or poly (vinyl alcohol) based membranes;

FIG. 7 is an illustration of an example computer program product; and

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example computing device; allarranged in accordance with at least some embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description sets forth various examples along withspecific details to provide a thorough understanding of claimed subjectmatter. It will be understood by those skilled in the art, however, thatclaimed subject matter may be practiced without some or more of thespecific details disclosed herein. Further, in some circumstances,well-known methods, procedures, systems, components and/or circuits havenot been described in detail in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuringclaimed subject matter.

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings, which form a part hereof. In the drawings,similar symbols typically identify similar components, unless contextdictates otherwise. The illustrative embodiments described in thedetailed description, drawings, and claims are not meant to be limiting.Other embodiments may be utilized, and other changes may be made,without departing from the spirit or scope of the subject matterpresented here. It will be readily understood that the aspects of thepresent disclosure, as generally described herein, and illustrated inthe Figures, can be arranged, substituted, combined, and designed in awide variety of different configurations, all of which are explicitlycontemplated and make part of this disclosure.

This disclosure is drawn, inter alia, to methods, apparatuses, systemsand computer readable media related to melt processable poly(vinylalcohol) blends and membranes based on poly(vinyl alcohol).

Membranes based on poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH) may have desirablecharacteristics including water permeation. Such membranes may besuitable for a variety of applications including, for example, watertreatment applications. It may be desirable to form such membranes usinga polymer blend that may perform well with melt processing techniquessuch as, for example, extrusion, injection molding, casting, or thelike.

In some examples, a blend including PVOH may be provided that may bemelt processable, such that the polymer blend may be used in meltpolymer processing techniques. In some examples, the polymer blend mayinclude PVOH, 2-glucosyloxyethyl methacrylate (GEMA) and a polymer thatmay be configured to provide post melt processing flexibility to thepolymer blend. In some examples, the polymer that provides flexibilitymay be included because a blend containing only PVOH and GEMA may be toorigid for polymer processing and/or various uses or applications of theprocessed polymer. In various examples, the flexibility providingpolymer may be one or more of a poly(vinylidene fluoride) polymer, apolyolefin polymer, a rubber, a thermoplastic elastomer, a polyethylenepolymer, a polypropylene polymer, a nylon or a polyester.

In some examples, PVOH, 2-glucosyloxyethyl methacrylate (GEMA) and apolymer that may be configured to provide post melt processingflexibility to the polymer blend may be blended. In an example, thepolymers may be dry blended to form a melt processable polymer blend.The polymer blend may be extruded, and a membrane may be formed from theextruded melt processable polymer blend.

In some examples, at least a portion of the PVOH may be dissolved fromthe membrane to form a microporous membrane. The microporous membranemay include channels with substantially small diameters such that themicroporous membrane may provide a filter to larger particles orparticulate. Such microporous membranes may be used in, for example,water purification applications.

In other examples, the membrane formed from the extruded meltprocessable polymer blend may go through a crosslinking of the PVOH (thecrosslinking may be post-treatment or it may be in situ during membraneformation). The crosslinking may substantially set and immobilize thepolymers such that the crosslinked membrane may be water resistant andyet retain its substantially high degree of water permeability andswelling ability.

In some examples, in the membranes discussed herein, by manipulating thechemistry of the PVOH in the pre- or post-melt processing phase, smartmaterials or smart membranes may be formed. A smart material or membranemay have a property that may be controllably changed by, for example,external stress, temperature, pH, electrical conditions or magneticconditions.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of a flow chart of an example method 100 forproducing a melt-processable polymer blend arranged in accordance withat least some embodiments of the present disclosure. Method 100 mayinclude one or more functions, operations or actions as illustrated byone or more of blocks 110, 120, 130 and/or 140. In some examples, method100 may be implemented under the control of a computer system, as isdiscussed further herein. Processing for method 100 may begin at blocks110, 120 and/or 130.

At block 110, “Provide Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) (PVOH) Polymer”, a PVOH basedpolymer may be provided or obtained. In some examples, the PVOH polymermay be commercially obtained. In some examples, the PVOH polymer may beproduced by partial or complete hydrolysis of polyvinyl acetate toremove acetate groups. In general, the PVOH polymer may have thestructure shown in FIG. 2. The PVOH polymer may have any suitable lengthof polymer chain, any suitable molecular weight or any suitable degreeof hydrolysis for the application for which the blend is being produced.

At block 120, “Provide 2-Glucosyloxyethyl Methacrylate (GEMA) basedPolymer”, a GEMA based polymer may be provided or obtained. In general,the GEMA based polymer may include 2-glucosyloxyethyl methacrylate(GEMA) incorporated as a comonomer in a polymer material. In general.GEMA may have the structure illustrated in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3,GEMA may include a methacrylate backbone and sugar residues in its sidechains. In some examples, the GEMA based polymer may be commerciallyobtained. In some examples, the GEMA based polymer may be produced bydirect coupling of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate with an aldose such as,but not limited to, glucose, galactose, mannose, and/or xylose. In someexamples, the GEMA may be incorporated in a linear acrylic polymer. Insome examples, the linear acrylic polymer with incorporated GEMA may beproduced in solution, in bulk, or by emulsion polymerization. In otherexamples, the GEMA may be incorporated in a core-shell type acrylic. Insome examples, the core-shell type acrylic with incorporated GEMA may beproduced by an emulsion polymerization process. In general, the GEMAbased polymer may serve as a plasticizer and/or thermal stabilizer forthe PVOH polymer, and may provide substantially thermoplasticcharacteristics to the post melt blend. In some examples, the GEMA basedpolymer may promote homogeneous fusion in the polymer blend. In general,any amount of GEMA based polymer may be used in the blend based on theapplication for which the blend is being produced. In some examples, arelatively small amount of GEMA based polymer may be used to achieve thedesired characteristics in the blend.

At block 130, “Provide Polymer Configured to Provide Post MeltFlexibility”, a polymer configured to provide post melt flexibility maybe provided or obtained. In general, the polymer configured to providepost melt flexibility may be chosen such that it is substantiallypliable and may add post melt flexibility to an otherwise post meltrigid blend of a PVOH polymer and a GEMA based polymer. In someexamples, the polymer configured to provide post melt flexibility mayinclude one or more of a poly(vinylidene fluoride) polymer, a polyolefinpolymer, a rubber, a thermoplastic elastomer, a polyethylene polymer, apolypropylene polymer, a nylon or a polyester. In some examples, thepolymer configured to provide post melt flexibility may be commerciallyobtained. In other examples, the polymer configured to provide post meltflexibility may be produced. Processing may continue at block 140.

At block 140, “Blend to Form Melt-Processable Polymer Blend”, the PVOHpolymer, the GEMA based polymer and the polymer configured to providepost melt flexibility may be blended. The blending may be performedaccording to any suitable polymer processing techniques that maysubstantially blend the polymers. In some examples, the blend may beperformed as a dry blend of the chosen polymers. In some examples, theblend may be formed by dissolving the chosen polymers in a solvent andevaporating the solvent. In some examples, the blend may be formed byheating the chosen polymers and blending them in an amorphous phase. Insome examples, forming the blend may include the addition of aplasticizer that may facilitate the blending of the chosen polymers. Insome examples, the discussed blends may be commercially provided.

As discussed, a PVOH polymer, a GEMA based polymer and a polymerconfigured to provide post melt flexibility may be blended to form amelt processable polymer blend. In some examples, the polymers andpolymer proportions may be chosen such that the resultant meltprocessable blend may produce membranes and other shapes efficientlyusing melt polymer processing techniques. In some examples, the PVOHpolymer and the GEMA based polymer may be considered a first polymerblend. In such examples, the polymers and fractions of polymers used inthe blends may be chosen such that the ratio of the melt viscosity ofthe first polymer blend to the melt viscosity of the polymer configuredto provide post melt flexibility may be about the same as the ratio ofthe volume fraction of the first polymer blend to the volume fraction ofthe polymer configured to provide post melt. Such a relationship may beshown in Equation 1:η₁/η₂≈φ₁/φ₂  (1)where η₁ may be the melt viscosity of the first polymer blend (which mayinclude the PVOH polymer and the GEMA based polymer), η₂ may be the meltviscosity of the polymer configured to provide post melt flexibility tothe final polymer blend, φ₁ may be the volume fraction of the firstpolymer blend (which may include the PVOH polymer and the GEMA basedpolymer), and φ₂ may be the volume fraction of the polymer configured toprovide post melt flexibility to the final polymer blend. In someexamples, with such ratios, the blend may produce a co-continuous phasestructure upon melt processing such as, for example, extrusion.

The polymer blend or blends that may be formed as discussed herein mayhave a variety of uses and implementations. In general, the blends maybe used as a melt processable blend for the production of any polymerbased material, layer or device. In some examples, they may be used tomake PVOH based membranes with a variety of characteristics, as isdiscussed in further detail below. In some examples, the blend or blendsmay be used in applications including, but not limited to, filmproduction, textile sizing, architectural coating, paper coating,fibers, adhesives, oxygen barrier films, or the like. In general, theblends may provide melt processable polymer alloys that may providematerials that are sturdy, relatively pliable, and easily manipulated.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a flow chart of an example method 400 forproducing a poly(vinyl alcohol) based membrane arranged in accordancewith at least some embodiments of the present disclosure. Method 400 mayinclude one or more functions, operations or actions as illustrated byone or more of blocks 110, 120, 130, 140, 450, 460 and/or 470. In someexamples, method 400 may be implemented under the control of a computersystem, as is discussed further herein. Processing for method 400 maybegin at blocks 110, 120 and/or 130.

Processing at blocks 110 (“Provide Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) (PVOH) Polymer”),120 (“Provide 2-Glucosyloxyethyl Methacrylate (GEMA) based Polymer”)and/or 130 (“Provide Polymer Configured to Provide Post MeltFlexibility”) may include any of the example techniques and materials asdiscussed with respect to FIG. 1 and method 100. Processing may continueat block 140. Processing at block 140, “Blend to Form Melt-ProcessablePolymer Blend”, may include any of the example techniques and materialsas discussed with respect to FIG. 1 and method 100. Processing maycontinue at block 450.

At block 450, “Extrude Melt-Processable Polymer Blend”, the meltprocessable polymer blend may be extruded. The extrusion may beperformed according to any suitable polymer processing techniques tosubstantially melt the blend and/or to form an object having asubstantially fixed cross-sectional profile. In some examples, the rawpolymer blend may be fed into a barrel via a hopper and an operatingscrew may turn inside the barrel. Heat may be applied to the barrelcausing the polymer blend to at least partially melt. The screw mayfurther heat the polymer via friction. The at least partially moltenpolymer blend may be pushed through a breaker plate and/or die to forman extruded polymer. In some examples, the extrusion may form a sheet.In other examples, the extrusion may form a tubing. In general, theextrusion may form a polymer alloy of the PVOH, the GEMA based polymerand the polymer configured to provide post melt flexibility. Processingmay continue at block 460.

At block 460, “Form a PVOH Based Membrane”, the extrudedmelt-processable polymer may be formed into a membrane. The extrudedpolymer may be formed into a membrane using any suitable polymerprocessing technique or techniques. In some examples, the membrane maybe formed by film blowing such that a substantially molten polymer sheetmay be pulled into a die, and as the polymer cools, compressed air mayform the polymer into a desired shape. In some examples, the membranemay be formed by casting such that substantially liquid polymer may bepoured into a mold and cooled. As discussed with respect to block 450,the raw polymer blend may be extruded prior to forming the membrane. Insome examples, the extrusion and membrane formation may occursubstantially sequentially such that after extrusion, the membrane maybe formed. In some examples, such a process may be termed injectionmolding or may use injection molding equipment. Processing may continueat block 470.

At block 470, “Dissolve a Portion of the Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) (PVOH)”, atleast a portion of the PVOH may be removed by dissolving. In someexamples, the PVOH may be removed by dissolving or leaching with wateras a solvent. In some examples, by dissolving or leaching with water,substantially small channels or pores (i.e., channels or pores havingsubstantially small diameters) may be formed in the membrane. Thechannels may allow small particles or molecules through while notallowing larger particles or molecules through. Therefore, the membranemay be a porous or microporous membrane that may be suitable for avariety of applications. In some examples, the membranes may be used inapplications such as filtration, water filtration, water purification,reverse osmosis, desalination, oxygen barrier films, or the like.

As discussed, the channels formed by dissolution with water may havesubstantially small diameters. In some examples, the channels may havediameters less than about 2 nm. In some examples, the channels may havediameters in the range of about 2 to 50 nm. In some examples, thechannels may have diameters in the range of about 50 to 100 nm. Thechannel size may be varied by controlling a variety of materials andprocessing parameters such as, but not limited to, the choice of polymerconfigured to provide post melt processing flexibility to the polymerblend, the ratios of PVOH polymer, GEMA based polymer and polymerconfigured to provide post melt flexibility, processing temperature, theduration of exposure to solvent, or the like. In some examples,materials and processing parameters may be selected such that Equation(1) is substantially satisfied. Such parameters may provide substantialease of use with melt polymer processing techniques.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a flow chart of another example method 500for producing a poly(vinyl alcohol) based membrane arranged inaccordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure.Method 500 may include one or more functions, operations or actions asillustrated by one or more of blocks 110, 120, 130, 140, 450, 460 and/or570. In some examples, method 500 may be implemented under the controlof a computer system, as is discussed further herein. Processing formethod 500 may begin at blocks 110, 120 and/or 130.

Processing at blocks 110 (“Provide Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) (PVOH) Polymer”),120 (“Provide 2-Glucosyloxyethyl Methacrylate (GEMA) based Polymer”)and/or 130 (“Provide Polymer Configured to Provide Post MeltFlexibility”) may include any of the example techniques and materials asdiscussed with respect to FIG. 1 and method 100. Processing may continueat block 140. Processing at block 140, “Blend to Form Melt-ProcessablePolymer Blend”, may include any of the example techniques and materialsas discussed with respect to FIG. 1 and method 100. Processing maycontinue at block 450. Processing at block 450, “ExtrudeMelt-Processable Polymer Blend”, may include any of the techniques andmaterials discussed with respect to FIG. 4 and method 400. Processingmay continue at block 460. Processing at block 460, “Form a PVOH BasedMembrane”, may include any of the techniques and materials discussedwith respect to FIG. 4 and method 400. Processing may continue at block570.

At block 570, “Crosslink a Portion of the Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) (PVOH)”,at least a portion of the PVOH may be crosslinked. The PVOH may becrosslinked by any suitable technique or techniques. In some examples,the PVOH may be crosslinked by providing radiation to the membrane. Insome examples, the radiation may be gamma radiation. In some examples,the PVOH may be crosslinked by providing a chemical to the membrane. Insome examples, the chemical may be one or more of boric acid,glutaraldehyde, amic acid, maleic acid or polyacrylic acid. In someexamples, the chemical may be a divalent or polyvalent acid. In someexamples, the PVOH may be crosslinked by applying a relatively smallamount of reactive multifunctional components to contact the PVOH suchthat subsequent drying may crosslink at least a portion of the PVOH.

As shown in FIG. 5, in some examples, the PVOH may be crosslinked afterthe membrane is formed. In other examples, the PVOH may be crosslinked(by application of radiation or chemicals) in situ such that thecrosslinking may be performed during the formation of the membrane. Insome examples, in situ crosslinking may include adding small amounts ofthe active components discussed above during processing. In general, thecrosslinking may set and immobilize the polymer configured to providepost melt flexibility and may make the membrane water resistant whileretaining the membrane's water permeability and swelling ability.

The crosslinked membrane may have many applications. In some examples,the membrane may be suitable for at least one of ultrafiltration,nanofiltration, reverse osmosis, water filtration, water purification,reverse osmosis, desalination, oxygen barrier films, or the like.

As discussed with respect to FIGS. 4 and 5, various membranes may beformed using the materials and techniques discussed herein. In variousexamples, by manipulating the chemistry of the PVOH in the pre- orpost-melt processing phase, smart materials or smart membranes may beformed, such that the smart material or membrane may have a property orproperties that may be controllably changed by, for example, externalstress, temperature, pH, electrical conditions or magnetic conditions.In some examples, the smart materials may be formed by providing amultifunctional material such as a polyacrylic acid or polymethacrylicacid or copolymers of either such that the embedded hydrogel may be pHresponsive or sensitive. Such pH sensitive membranes may, for example,swell or collapse when the pH in a surrounding solution changes, and mayhave application, for example, in drug delivery systems.

In other examples, the membranes discussed herein may be provided apost-treatment with aminobutyraldehyde diethyl acetal andmethacrylamidoacetaldehyde dimethyl acetal to produce an animated and/orphotoactive PVOH. Such animated and/or photoactive membranes may haveapplication, for example, in solar cells or solar panels, or the like.

The discussed membrane production methods may offer the advantage ofbeing produced on a continuous or semi-continuous process basis that maybe industrially scaled up to produce pliable films that aresubstantially easy to handle. In some examples, the membrane productionmay be low cost and may be energy efficient. The membranes may offerease of assembly in final products such as, for example, waterpurification equipment, desalination equipment, reverse osmosisequipment, or the like.

Turning now to other embodiments that may perform any of the methods asdescribed herein, FIG. 6 illustrates an example system 600 for producingmelt processable poly(vinyl alcohol) blends and poly(vinyl alcohol)based membranes arranged in accordance with at least some embodiments ofthe present disclosure. System 600 may be used to perform some or all ofthe functions described herein in connection with FIGS. 1 to 5. System600 may include a process unit 610 operably coupled to a processor 630that may include process unit control logic 620. Process unit 610 mayinclude any or all of the characteristics as described herein. Invarious examples, process unit 610 may include an extruder (which mayinclude, for example, a hopper, a feeder a barrel with a screw operatingtherein, a motor, a heating element and a die), a film blow die, acasting die, an injection molder, a dissolution bath, a radiationelement, or the like. The process unit may also includeelectro-mechanical devices that may be configured to actuate the variouscomponents. In some examples, the processing equipment may beautomatically or robotically actuated.

In some examples, system 600 may include a processor 630. In someexamples, processor 630 may be implemented as part of a computer system.System 600 may include process unit control logic 620 that may beconfigured to undertake various methods, functional operations, actions,or blocks such as those described previously for FIGS. 1 to 5. Further,system 600 may include additional items such as memory, a router,network interface logic, etc. Process unit control logic 620 may beconfigured to provide any of the functionality described herein andclaimed subject matter is not limited to specific types ormanifestations of processing logic. For example, processor 630 may be amicroprocessor or Central Processing Unit (CPU). In otherimplementations, processor 630 may be an Application Specific IntegratedCircuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), a digital signalprocessor (DSP), or other integrated formats. Processor 630 and processunit 610 may communicate by any suitable means, such as, for example, bywired connections or wireless connections.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example computer program product 700 arranged inaccordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure.Computer program product 700 may include a signal bearing medium 702.Signal bearing medium 702 may include one or more machine-readableinstructions 704, which, when executed by one or more processors, mayoperatively enable a computing device to provide the functionalitydescribed herein with respect to FIGS. 1 to 5. In various examples, someor all of the machine-readable instructions may be used by the devicesdiscussed with respect to FIG. 6.

In some implementations, signal bearing medium 702 may encompass acomputer-readable medium 707, such as, but not limited to, a hard diskdrive, a Compact Disc (CD), a Digital Video Disk (DVD), a digital tape,memory, etc. In some implementations, signal bearing medium 702 mayencompass a recordable medium 708, such as, but not limited to, memory,read/write (R/W) CDs, R/W DVDs, etc. In some implementations, signalbearing medium 702 may encompass a communications medium 710, such as,but not limited to, a digital and/or an analog communication medium(e.g., a fiber optic cable, a waveguide, a wired communication link, awireless communication link, etc.).

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example computing device 800arranged in accordance with at least some embodiments of the presentdisclosure. In various examples, computing device 800 may be configuredto provide the operations discussed herein. In an example, the devicesdiscussed with respect to FIG. 6 may be provided as a part of computingdevice 800. In one example basic configuration 801, computing device 800may include one or more processors 810 and system memory 820. A memorybus 830 can be used for communicating between the processor 810 and thesystem memory 820.

Depending on the desired configuration, processor 810 may be of any typeincluding but not limited to a microprocessor (μP), a microcontroller(μC), a digital signal processor (DSP), or any combination thereof.Processor 810 can include one or more levels of caching, such as a levelone cache 811 and a level two cache 812, a processor core 813, andregisters 814. The processor core 813 can include an arithmetic logicunit (ALU), a floating point unit (FPU), a digital signal processingcore (DSP Core), or any combination thereof. A memory controller 815 canalso be used with the processor 810, or in some implementations thememory controller 815 can be an internal part of the processor 810.

Depending on the desired configuration, the system memory 820 may be ofany type including but not limited to volatile memory (such as RAM),non-volatile memory (such as ROM, flash memory, etc.) or any combinationthereof. System memory 820 may include an operating system 821, one ormore applications 822, and program data 824. Application 822 may includeprocess unit control application 823 that can be arranged to perform thefunctions, actions, and/or operations as described herein including thefunctional blocks, actions, and/or operations described with respect toFIGS. 1 to 6. Program Data 824 may include process unit data 825 for usewith process unit control application 823. In some example embodiments,application 822 may be arranged to operate with program data 824 on anoperating system 821. This described basic configuration is illustratedin FIG. 8 by those components within dashed line 801.

Computing device 800 may have additional features or functionality, andadditional interfaces to facilitate communications between the basicconfiguration 801 and any required devices and interfaces. For example,a bus/interface controller 840 may be used to facilitate communicationsbetween the basic configuration 801 and one or more data storage devices850 via a storage interface bus 841. The data storage devices 850 may beremovable storage devices 851, non-removable storage devices 852, or acombination thereof. Examples of removable storage and non-removablestorage devices include magnetic disk devices such as flexible diskdrives and hard-disk drives (HDD), optical disk drives such as compactdisk (CD) drives or digital versatile disk (DVD) drives, solid statedrives (SSD), and tape drives to name a few. Example computer storagemedia may include volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removablemedia implemented in any method or technology for storage ofinformation, such as computer readable instructions, data structures,program modules, or other data.

System memory 820, removable storage 851 and non-removable storage 852are all examples of computer storage media. Computer storage mediaincludes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or othermemory technology, CD-ROM, digital versatile disks (DVD) or otheroptical storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic diskstorage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which maybe used to store the desired information and which may be accessed bycomputing device 800. Any such computer storage media may be part ofdevice 800.

Computing device 800 may also include an interface bus 842 forfacilitating communication from various interface devices (e.g., outputinterfaces, peripheral interfaces, and communication interfaces) to thebasic configuration 801 via the bus/interface controller 840. Exampleoutput interfaces 860 may include a graphics processing unit 861 and anaudio processing unit 862, which may be configured to communicate tovarious external devices such as a display or speakers via one or moreA/V ports 863. Example peripheral interfaces 880 may include a serialinterface controller 881 or a parallel interface controller 882, whichmay be configured to communicate with external devices such as inputdevices (e.g., keyboard, mouse, pen, voice input device, touch inputdevice, etc.) or other peripheral devices (e.g., printer, scanner, etc.)via one or more I/O ports 883. An example communication interface 880includes a network controller 881, which may be arranged to facilitatecommunications with one or more other computing devices 883 over anetwork communication via one or more communication ports 882. Acommunication connection is one example of a communication media.Communication media may typically be embodied by computer readableinstructions, data structures, program modules, or other data in amodulated data signal, such as a carrier wave or other transportmechanism, and may include any information delivery media. A “modulateddata signal” may be a signal that has one or more of its characteristicsset or changed in such a manner as to encode information in the signal.By way of example, and not limitation, communication media may includewired media such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, andwireless media such as acoustic, radio frequency (RF), infrared (IR) andother wireless media. The term computer readable media as used hereinmay include both storage media and communication media.

Computing device 800 may be implemented as a portion of a small-formfactor portable (or mobile) electronic device such as a cell phone, apersonal data assistant (PDA), a personal media player device, awireless web-watch device, a personal headset device, an applicationspecific device, or a hybrid device that includes any of the abovefunctions. Computing device 800 may also be implemented as a personalcomputer including both laptop computer and non-laptop computerconfigurations. In addition, computing device 800 may be implemented aspart of a wireless base station or other wireless system or device.

Some portions of the foregoing detailed description are presented interms of algorithms or symbolic representations of operations on databits or binary digital signals stored within a computing system memory,such as a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions orrepresentations are examples of techniques used by those of ordinaryskill in the data processing arts to convey the substance of their workto others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally, isconsidered to be a self-consistent sequence of operations or similarprocessing leading to a desired result. In this context, operations orprocessing involve physical manipulation of physical quantities.Typically, although not necessarily, such quantities may take the formof electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred,combined, compared or otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient attimes, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to such signalsas bits, data, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers,numerals or the like. It should be understood, however, that all ofthese and similar terms are to be associated with appropriate physicalquantities and are merely convenient labels. Unless specifically statedotherwise, as apparent from the following discussion, it is appreciatedthat throughout this specification discussions utilizing terms such as“processing,” “computing,” “calculating,” “determining” or the likerefer to actions or processes of a computing device, that manipulates ortransforms data represented as physical electronic or magneticquantities within memories, registers, or other information storagedevices, transmission devices, or display devices of the computingdevice.

The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments ofthe devices and/or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts,and/or examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, flowcharts, and/orexamples contain one or more functions and/or operations, it will beunderstood by those within the art that each function and/or operationwithin such block diagrams, flowcharts, or examples can be implemented,individually and/or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software,firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In some embodiments,several portions of the subject matter described herein may beimplemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), FieldProgrammable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), orother integrated formats. However, those skilled in the art willrecognize that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, inwhole or in part, can be equivalently implemented in integratedcircuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or morecomputers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computersystems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors(e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors),as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designingthe circuitry and/or writing the code for the software and or firmwarewould be well within the skill of one of skill in the art in light ofthis disclosure. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein are capableof being distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, andthat an illustrative embodiment of the subject matter described hereinapplies regardless of the particular type of signal bearing medium usedto actually carry out the distribution. Examples of a signal bearingmedium include, but are not limited to, the following: a recordable typemedium such as a flexible disk, a hard disk drive (HDD), a Compact Disc(CD), a Digital Video Disk (DVD), a digital tape, a computer memory,etc.; and a transmission type medium such as a digital and/or an analogcommunication medium (e.g., a fiber optic cable, a waveguide, a wiredcommunication link, a wireless communication link, etc.).

The herein described subject matter sometimes illustrates differentcomponents contained within, or connected with, different othercomponents. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures aremerely examples and that in fact many other architectures can beimplemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense,any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality iseffectively “associated” such that the desired functionality isachieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve aparticular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each othersuch that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective ofarchitectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components soassociated can also be viewed as being “operably connected”, or“operably coupled”, to each other to achieve the desired functionality,and any two components capable of being so associated can also be viewedas being “operably couplable”, to each other to achieve the desiredfunctionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but arenot limited to physically mateable and/or physically interactingcomponents and/or wirelessly interactable and/or wirelessly interactingcomponents and/or logically interacting and/or logically interactablecomponents.

With respect to the use of substantially any plural and/or singularterms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from theplural to the singular and/or from the singular to the plural as isappropriate to the context and/or application. The varioussingular/plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sakeof clarity.

It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, termsused herein, and especially in the appended claims (e.g., bodies of theappended claims) are generally intended as “open” terms (e.g., the term“including” should be interpreted as “including but not limited to,” theterm “having” should be interpreted as “having at least,” the term“includes” should be interpreted as “includes but is not limited to,”etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if aspecific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such anintent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence ofsuch recitation no such intent is present. For example, as an aid tounderstanding, the following appended claims may contain usage of theintroductory phrases “at least one” and “one or more” to introduce claimrecitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed toimply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinitearticles “a” or “an” limits any particular claim containing suchintroduced claim recitation to inventions containing only one suchrecitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases“one or more” or “at least one” and indefinite articles such as “a” or“an” (e.g., “a” and/or “an” should typically be interpreted to mean “atleast one” or “one or more”); the same holds true for the use ofdefinite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, evenif a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitlyrecited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitationshould typically be interpreted to mean at least the recited number(e.g., the bare recitation of “two recitations,” without othermodifiers, typically means at least two recitations, or two or morerecitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a conventionanalogous to “at least one of A, B, and C, etc.” is used, in generalsuch a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the artwould understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at least one ofA, B, and C” would include but not be limited to systems that have Aalone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where aconvention analogous to “at least one of A, B, or C, etc.” is used, ingeneral such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill inthe art would understand the convention (e.g., “a system having at leastone of A, B, or C” would include but not be limited to systems that haveA alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, and/or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be furtherunderstood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive wordand/or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in thedescription, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplatethe possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, orboth terms. For example, the phrase “A or B” will be understood toinclude the possibilities of “A” or “B” or “A and B.”

While certain example techniques have been described and shown hereinusing various methods and systems, it should be understood by thoseskilled in the art that various other modifications may be made, andequivalents may be substituted, without departing from claimed subjectmatter. Additionally, many modifications may be made to adapt aparticular situation to the teachings of claimed subject matter withoutdeparting from the central concept described herein. Therefore, it isintended that claimed subject matter not be limited to the particularexamples disclosed, but that such claimed subject matter also mayinclude all implementations falling within the scope of the appendedclaims, and equivalents thereof.

What is claimed is:
 1. A melt-processable polymer blend comprising: afirst polymer blend comprising a first polymer including poly(vinylalcohol) and a second polymer including 2-glucosyloxyethyl methacrylate;and a third polymer selected to provide post melt processing flexibilityto the polymer blend, wherein a melt viscosity ratio of the firstpolymer blend to the third polymer is selected to render themelt-processable polymer blend a co-continuous phase structure upon meltprocessing.
 2. The melt-processable polymer blend of claim 1, whereinthe third polymer comprises at least one of a poly(vinylidene fluoride)polymer, a polyolefin polymer, a nylon or a polyester.
 3. Themelt-processable polymer blend of claim 2, wherein the polyolefinpolymer comprises at least one of a polyethylene polymer or apolypropylene polymer.
 4. The melt-processable polymer blend of claim 1,wherein the second polymer comprises the 2-glucosyloxyethyl methacrylateincorporated in a linear acrylic polymer.
 5. The melt-processablepolymer blend of claim 1, wherein the second polymer comprises the2-glucosyloxyethyl methacrylate incorporated in a core-shell acrylicpolymer.
 6. The melt-processable polymer blend of claim 1, wherein themelt viscosity ratio is a first melt viscosity of the first polymerblend to a second melt viscosity of the third polymer.
 7. Themelt-processable polymer blend of claim 6, wherein a volume ratio of thefirst polymer blend to the third polymer is a first volume fraction ofthe first polymer blend to a second volume fraction of the thirdpolymer.
 8. The melt-processable polymer blend of claim 7, wherein thevolume ratio is substantially equal to the viscosity ratio.